2) In the past year, Tom Jucarone and I teamed up with McCann New York and students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on a terrific project for March for Our Lives. “The Most Vicious Cycle” was a 3 1/2 minute film depicting the endless cycle of gun violence. Set to Kesha’s “Safe”, they creatively illustrated the endless loop using the Rube Goldberg machine as a storytelling device, and at the end, it begins again, playing three times. It’s powerful.
As a sound designer, I’ve worked on three anti-gun spots in the last year. It is important to work on projects that serve a greater purpose than just selling a product. This film struck a chord with me because of my passion against gun violence. Over the 30+ years that I have been making sounds, I feel my best work has been on PSAs that dealt with very important issues that we face every day of our lives.
3) “The Most Vicious Cycle” for March for Our Lives was short-listed for AICP Post Awards, AMP Awards, D&AD, and won a Webby Award for Public Service and Activism this year. Whenever you work on a PSA, you learn something. That’s what they’re all about. They teach and they give you something to think about. I am as much a viewer, as I am an artist on these projects. This film had no production sound so everything was created through sound design and foley. But at the end, I’m like everyone else. When it’s finished, I sit in my room, and I watch what we’ve created. Not as an artist, but as a viewer and a person who’s passionate and compelled by the subject.
Receiving recognition from our peers is very gratifying. However, the key takeaway is to always put everything into your projects. We have the ability to move people and educate people. We put our heart and soul into the work because that is what we have done and continue to do in careers that have spanned over 30 years.
6) I am very proud that, historically, Sound Lounge has always had strong and creative women heading most of our divisions. More than half of our management team is made up of women, and 40% of our company is women. Over the 20 years that Sound Lounge has been in business, many of our mixers started as interns and in the machine room. Through our open door policy and willingness to share, they have opportunities to learn how to mix and be mentored by artists who have been in the industry for a long time. We believe that the only way to get great at your craft is through practice. I am a big believer that our young mixers should and do work with filmmakers from our local universities like NYU and Columbia.